Anyway, Hogan, apparently ticked off that his ex-wife Linda, who's pushing 50, gets to live in their multi-million dollar mansion and that her boyfriend, who's 19 or 20, drives around town in luxury cars that Hogan paid for, said he understood how O.J. could develop enough rage to kill in similar circumstances.

Of course, Hogan was roundly condemned by pundits, and Linda's "team" pointed to Hogan's comments as evidence that she has reason to fear him.

My first thought was Hulk Hogan must be nuts. Even if he was thinking this, he shouldn't have said it aloud to another human.

My second thought was Hulk Hogan sounds serious, like he could really kill her!

My third thought was Wait a minute! I remember when Chris Rock said something similar during his 1996 HBO special Bring the Pain. And I laughed my behind off at Rock's joke.

Not only that, but I have since watched Bring the Pain a dozen times, and I admit I've laughed every time, all the way through. The first time I watched it, I watched with my then girlfriend. She laughed too...and then punched me in the arm for laughing so hard.

In Bring the Pain, Rock came right out and told his audience that he knew damned well O.J. did it. He then went on to talk about Simpson paying his ex $25,000 a month in support, about reports that Goldman was often spotted around town driving luxury cars that Simpson paid for but his ex possessed, and about rumors that Brown-Simpson and Goldman may have been dating. To raucus laughter, Rock concluded "I'm not sayin' he should've killed her...but I understand." (Here is the first four minutes of audio from that bit. CAUTION: salty language!)

Terrible, right? No one deserves to be murdered. Period.

So why was I repulsed by Hulk Hogan's words and amused by Rock's?

I'm not asking 'cause I think domestic violence or murder or any combination of those crimes is funny. Just the opposite. I know they're among the worst crimes, right up there with child abuse, rape, etc.

And I'm no shrink (though I like to play one in print), but I think the difference between the two is Hogan's tone in Rolling Stone came off as disturbed, whereas Chris Rock compelled folks to squirm uncomfortably as they laughed, 'cause they knew that what he was saying had crossed the minds of lots of "normal" non-violent people.

Don't get mad. You know I'm telling the truth. Tell me you don't have at least one friend who over drinks or on the golf course or in the gym didn't say something similary nutty like "I don't know, man. I think I'd be pretty ticked off too if I had to pay...and she shared it with another guy."

I've had friends and acquaintances do that. And I'll be honest, my reaction has ranged from a silent frown, to a finger-wagging condemnation, to an uncomfortable giggle.

Personally? I don't think money, houses, or cars are worth killing someone over. The way I see it, if I'm rich and half my wealth is the price for a smooth split from a former love, so be it. Of course, as Rock said in Bring the Pain, a 50% split may not mean much to you when you're splitting $20 million. But it might take on a whole new meaning when your "wealth" to begin with was say $30,000, and your departing spouse is entitled to $15,000 of that.

I know one guy who was so obsessed with worry over the sharing half scenario that he swore he'd never get married. Ironically, that moron wasn't rich and nothing about the way he lived suggested he'd ever be. So his fear of "losing half" was without merit.

And I know guys who swear if the roles were reversed and their wives earned more money, they - the guys - wouldn't seek half in a divorce. They'd just walk away and start their lives over. Baloney. They would too seek half.

So there is this lingering resentment mentality among lots of guys that makes them rebel against the notion of sharing material wealth with a former love - so much so sometimes that it can lead to scenarios like what most of us are convinced happened with O.J. and Nicole.

Hulk Hogan clearly has this mentality. Hope he gets help and doesn't snap. But if he does snap, we know it won't be the first or last time that kind of tragedy happens.

Final food for thought: Assuming I"m right in speculating that I'm not the only anti-kill-your-wife man who laughed at Chris Rock's O.J. bit back in the day, should we really have been shocked a few weeks ago when nearly 50% of teenage girls surveyed about the Chris Brown/Rihanna domestic violence case speculated that Rihanna brought that beating on herself?

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I want you to know that I have read this. My ex-partner is now appealing his divorce decree which was pretty one-sided even from my point of view. He lost everything. 100%. I don't feel very objective at the moment. I agree, murder isn't an option, even in my partner's case. It's the whole divorce process that bothers me.

"Should we really have been shocked a few weeks ago when nearly 50% of teenage girls surveyed about the Chris Brown/Rihanna domestic violence case speculated that Rihanna brought that beating on herself?"

I think it really depends on if you ever think violence is justified.

The rumor (and I made no effort to discover the truth behind it) was that Rihanna knew she had an STD, didn't tell Chris Brown and passed on said STD.

Now in my books, if this were true, especially if it were something incurable like Herpes, it would bring me dangerously close to a snapping point. I still don't think I'd hit her, but damn, I'd be mighty pissed and I think at the least I'd destroy some property.

With this rumor going around I am not at all surprised with the 50-50 split among teenage girls.

I was raised in a less litigious country (Canada) where criminal charges can come out of assault, but civil cases seeking damages in these cases are very rare.

It made you watch your behavior a bit more. If you called a guy's girlfriend a nasty name you might get a pop in the nose for your trouble.

I honestly don't feel American culture has become more "enlightened" in their regards to violence more than they have become cowed by the fear of civil litigation.

And don't feel bad about laughing at Chris Rock's violent jokes. Anything can be funny. Have you heard the one about the priest and the alter boy?